This is probably the one that I'm, believe it or not, the most excited about. That is the area where I always felt we didn't have the penetration that we should have. I have had to go in front of the media and everything else in the last couple of years to say that we have 23 funds; one may be depleted, but we're trying to work, as the minister described.
On this one, $1 million a year will go a long way to help our veterans who are homeless or maybe not so homeless sometimes but perhaps couch surfing. They're not all on the street, when we say “homeless”.
It is determined by our field operation people. There is an app. You can use it, or walk into one of our offices.
After hours, we set up a whole system. We have a 1-800 line associated with Health Canada, where veterans can call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to get services. Now, as part of that call, if a call comes in that somebody has an emergency, they need whatever, whether it is at three o'clock in the morning or on Sunday, the Health Canada people have been trained, and they now will refer the call. We have people at the end of another phone. It's seamless for the veteran, by the way; the call is transferred to a front-line worker who will ask “What is your emergency?”.
I'm pleased to report that we've had none of those calls after hours or on the weekend. We're going to reassess if that's working after six months.
The local office, the case manager, or the veterans service agent will make the determination whether this is a genuine emergency.
I will be honest; we've had people who have tested the system in the three months. You know, they want to get their roof fixed. Well if you're on ELB at 90% and you're bringing in a fair amount of money, your roof may be broken but it doesn't necessarily mean it's an emergency. It may be an emergency for you.
I live on the coast, and every once in a while the wind rips a couple of shingles off my house, but it doesn't mean that it's an emergency.
If they can't pay their electrical bill and they're going to be expropriated on a Friday night, that's an emergency. We do what we can to make sure they don't land on the street. The front-line staff are doing that. We've worked with our finance colleagues to have a way to pay immediately. We're also working with the plethora of associations out there that work in the realm of homelessness and people at risk, to be able to get these people a shelter, a hotel room, a meal, whatever.
It's only been three months. We're still learning. We may have to tweak some stuff. I'll be honest that, with these types of programs, you always....
As of now, we have received 183 requests for the veterans emergency fund. I thought that 100 was favourable.